The 34-year-old actor, who recently got engaged to singer Renee Puente, is remaining a regular on the show's upcoming fifth series. His alter-ego got married to Emma (Jayma Mays) last season.

"The students have always been his children so I think it would be interesting to see him have his own children," he said. "I think he'll be a good dad. He's got the skillset and having spent all this time working with the students, I think he'll be great at it."

But the actor-singer added: "I have no idea if that will happen. I haven't told the writers. I'm just putting it out there."

Matthew - whose second album Where It All Began is out now - praised the show for breaking new ground by tackling controversial subjects.

"My favourite part of the show is getting to butt heads with Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester). The show has taken a life of its own that none of us had expected going into it. It's a train that keeps on going, and it's a train ride I don't want to get off on," he said.

"I love that it's not just a show about a bunch of high school kids singing and dancing. It's talked about some great issues and can provoke conversation such as teen pregnancy and being gay in high school and I feel proud to be a part of this ground-breaking show."

He added: "The show, for me, is all about the firsts and a lot of my firsts were done by the second season so I've had more of a back seat in the past two seasons. Maybe Mr Schue could spend more time in New York - that would be fun."